School Year 2009-10!!

A new school year has begun!  We started on August 3.  People ask me why we started so early.  Let me explain.  We live in a not so big city that gets very hot in the summer.  Like over 100 degrees for at least a month.  We took 7 weeks off for our summer break.  We don't have a pool, but we did go swimming at a friend's house several times.  Being that we have moved here from the mild climate of the Bay Area in No. California, the heat is hard to get used to. I get so drained just being out there for 10 minutes!  So we spend a lot of time indoors.  We did go camping, and plan to again next week, to the cool beach, and a few other fun things.  But after awhile, the kids start to go stir crazy and need more structure.  But the biggest reason is that I want to take plenty of time off in the cooler months.  Maybe we will actually go hiking in the mountains, or go for a bike ride.  We school for about 36 weeks, that leaves 17 weeks off in the year.  We plan to take 2 weeks off in Oct, 1 in Nov, 3 in Dec, 2 in Feb/Mar, 2 in Apr.  Then another 6  in the summer again. 

We also changed our daily schedule a bit.  Instead of doing math right after Bible, we are doing spelling, then English, then history or science.  We do math and the other subjects after lunch.  This is a great change and it's so nice to be able to mix things up again to keep it interesting!  We also changed up our school room.  We got rid of the too slow kids' computer and gave that desk to our new high schooler.  She loves having her own place for her books and studies.  Here are a few pics of our first day.

I decluttered the tops of the bookcases using those baskets I got from the .99 store and it is so much better now.  I just have to remember to dust up there now and then!

 

 

The eager high schooler!

8th grader:

6th grader:

The 3rd grader:

The eager 2nd grader:

Note: the 3 boys in the middle pics got haircuts today, so they look like boys again! 

Just One Watermelon

We had planted 3 watermelon seedlings in the spring.  We had a few tiny watermelons, but they died before getting very big at all.  We ended up only getting one but it was a good one.  We had no idea when it would be ripe, but it had stopped getting bigger.  The leaves were starting to turn brown/yellow.  So we picked it and it was nice and red and juicy.

The only things left in our garden are tomatoes, mostly cherry, and lots of peppers.  So, lots of salsa for us!

The Easel

I've been wanting an easel for quite awhile now.  I wanted to be able to prop up books of art like Monet and Van Gogh so the kids can become familiar with them.  I wanted to be able to prop up the white board for demonstrations, or to prop up other educational posters.  I had bought one at the office store.  The legs were made of aluminum, I think.  They were so thin and wobbly.  Clearly, it was meant for a nice calm office with a few calm adults and not a room full of homeschooled kids!  So I took it back before it got broken.  One day last spring, the kids made little table easels at Home Depot in the kids workshop.  I love them!  I can prop up small books on the table now!  Then I went to my friend's house and they had one just like it only bigger!  So I studied it and measured it and bought the supplies.  We finally got it built last weekend!  It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be, a lot of trial and error, but we did it and I love it!  Here it is, being put to good use:

A special thanks to Dancing Bear who perservered in finishing it for me in time for our first day of school!

We painted the girls' room!

I know I said I wanted to learn or do something new every week.  Ok, so that was a big order.  But, I am doing plenty of firsts this summer, and I will be posting them here. 

The first time I have ever prepared and painted a room! We had to remove the wallpaper, back in March.   Wallpaper Removal

It took a lot more time to scrape off the teeny tiny bits of stubborn wallpaper that you could hardly see, but would mess up a paint job.  I learned about TSP and that helped a lot, getting off more that I hadn't seen!  But, another delay in painting.  Then the taping, buying supplies, picking out paint, and we were finally ready!  Two coats of paint w/ the primer mixed in.  Here are the pictures.  My girls were so happy to get their room back in order.  Their stuff was in the closet for months!

 

The closet, a little darker shade:

Putting the bed together:

All done!

The purple came out a little darker than I had expected, but they love it.  We will be getting pretty curtains and bedding, and another bed for little sister, too! Probably bunkbeds, as a trundle would take up too much room in there.  It is only about 10 x 7 not counting the closets!

Yosemite 2009 Slideshow!

Going Camping

I haven't even posted our Yosemite photos yet, and we are going on another camping trip.  I did make a neat slideshow on Photobucket, and have tried to post it here, on Blogger and Facebook, but it just is not working.  Not only that, but my Nikon is still in the shop.  The good news is, the repair will be covered under the warranty!!  I am soooooo happy about that!  Thankfully, my daughter has a camera so we will at least have that and someday, I'll post pics of this trip.  We are going to Sequoia National Park, our first time ever!  We plan to go see General Sherman, the oldest living Sequoia, about 2000 years old!

I better get to packing, we want to get there before dark!

Homeschool Convention

Last weekend, I went to my first ever homeschool convention.  I can't believe it has taken me nine years since I started homeschooling, to go to one!  It was awesome!  Just being around so many homeschoolers was a great encouragement.  The workshops, with speakers on various topics, were informative, encouraging, funny...  I found some great deals in the used book area.  I got the A Beka Biology set for my high schooler for $12!!  It is about $150 new!  Walking through the vendors was fun and I spent a little more than I had planned, but I pretty much stayed on my list :)  It was very crowded, and  a little difficult maneuvering my small wheeled suitcase around, which  was very helpful in holding all of the books I bought!

What really struck me, was that I had never been with so many homeschoolers before.  And I don't think I  had ever heard speakers talk strictly about homeschooling.  They talked about the trials and joys of homeschooling, and were very encouraging and made me laugh and cry.  If you can ever get to just one homeschool convention, do it!